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Attracting more people from a care-experienced background to further and higher education continues to be a priority for Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). SFC have a National Ambition for Care-Experienced Students for the college and university sectors.

Our vision is to see no difference in the outcomes between care-experienced students and non care-experienced students by 2030. The work we are currently doing is taking us toward that vision. The SFC’s Report on Widening Access reported that in 2020/21 care-experienced students at Scotland’s colleges and universities accounted for 1.9% of Scottish-domiciled entrants to undergraduate courses. That’s up from 1.7% in 2019-20 and represents an increase of 215 students. SFC has an established a Care Experience National Policy Group. The last meeting of that group was 26 January 2023 and included Student Ambassadors.

There are currently no meetings scheduled between Scottish Ministers and the UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks. However, Ms Martin MSP, Minister for Energy, did meet with the UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks on 27 April 2023 to discuss the UK Government's Energy Bill and the track process for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects. We anticipate there will be further engagement on the Energy Bill, for which the UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks is lead. The Bill will enable regulation across a raft of energy policy areas critical for net zero, and we are seeking amendments to ensure the Bill fully meets the needs and interests of Scottish consumers and industry.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-17820 and S6W-17821 on 18 May 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Scottish Government guidance on grant giving requires that all grants be completed by default. Therefore, at any one time, there can be a large amount of grants available, all at different stages of their operational cycle. Each grant fund is managed by a specific policy area within the Scottish Government. To ensure fair and transparent application processes, these funds are advertised as appropriate on the gov.scot website or other specific sites to ensure stakeholders and key specific groups are targeted for applications. The SG does not hold central information at the detailed level of individual scheme operation.

I refer the member to Scottish Government’s publication on 28 February 2023 of the timeline and process for securing an Internal Market Act exclusion for the Deposit Return Scheme: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/correspondence/2023/02/internal-market-act-correspondence/documents/timeline-and-process-for-securing-an-internal-market-act-exclusion-for-drs/timeline-and-process-for-securing-an-internal-market-act-exclusion-for-drs/govscot%3Adocument/DRS%2BTimeline%2Band%2BProcess.pdf

Yes. We are committed to transparency and openness in our administration of the Deposit Return Scheme, and will publish this by the end of May 2023.

The Digital Prescribing and Dispending Pathways Programme is currently in the planning and development stage, and I expect to be able to confirm the timetable for full roll out in due course.

As with the development of all new trade arrangements, the Scottish Government has sought to engage with the UK Government at Ministerial and official level throughout the negotiation process for accession to the CPTPP to ensure that Scottish interests are identified and taken into account. Most recently, I wrote to the UK Government Minister of State for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston MP, following his confirmation that the UK Government had secured Agreement in Principle to accede to CPTPP. In this correspondence I raised a number of concerns including those around Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

The Scottish Government’s position, as set out in the Vision for Trade, is that no future Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system should prevent Scotland (and the rest of the UK) from making laws on health, social, environmental and economic matters. Any future ISDS system should be transparent, based on judicial procedures, and permit meaningful representations by all parties with a potential stake in the matter.

We will continue to call on the UK Government to recognise widespread concerns around ISDS, actively consider alternative models of dispute resolution, and to contribute to the development of international best practice.

NHS Boards are responsible for providing support to GP practices by providing Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) and Pharmacotherapy services and regulations were amended in 2022 to reflect this change. On account of the variation in the extent of implementation of these services, the Scottish Government is currently taking forward an exercise to collect and analyse data on the recurring workforce requirements, to ensure the financial and legal framework is fair and sustainable.

Local areas should continue to work in collaboration with all partners to ensure that services meet local needs. This may also include flexibility for local transitionary arrangements with practices to be funded as an interim and time-limited measure from within the existing Primary Care Improvement Fund funding envelope.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to endorse the Plant Based Treaty. We are keen to explore ways to both encourage a healthy diet and reduce the environmental impact of our food system. We continue to work with Public Health Scotland, Food Standards Scotland and others to evaluate the evidence base on diet, health and climate impacts.